ORIGINAL PAPER Feasibility and validity of animal-based indicators for on-farm welfare assessment of thermal stress in dairy goats Monica Battini 1 & Sara Barbieri 1 & Luna Fioni 1 & Silvana Mattiello 1 Received: 31 July 2014 /Revised: 5 June 2015 /Accepted: 5 June 2015 # ISB 2015 Abstract This investigation tested the feasibility and validity of indicators of cold and heat stress in dairy goats for on-farm welfare assessment protocols. The study was performed on two intensive dairy farms in Italy. Two different 3-point scale (0–2) scoring systems were applied to assess cold and heat stress. Cold and heat stress scores were visually assessed from outside the pen in the morning, afternoon and evening in January–February, April–May and July 2013 for a total of nine sessions of observations/farm. Temperature (°C), relative humidity (%) and wind speed (km/h) were recorded and Thermal Heat Index (THI) was calculated. The sessions were allocated to three climatic seasons, depending on THI ranges: cold (<50), neutral (50–65) and hot (>65). Score 2 was rarely assessed; therefore, scores 1 and 2 were aggregated for statis- tical analysis. The amount of goats suffering from cold stress was significantly higher in the cold season than in neutral (P <0.01) and hot (P <0.001) seasons. Signs of heat stress were recorded only in the hot season (P <0.001). The visual assessment from outside the pen confirms the on-farm feasi- bility of both indicators: No constraint was found and time required was less than 10 min. Our results show that cold and heat stress scores are valid indicators to detect thermal stress in intensively managed dairy goats. The use of a binary scoring system (presence/absence), merging scores 1 and 2, may be a further refinement to improve the feasibility. This study also allows the prediction of optimal ranges of THI for dairy goat breeds in intensive husbandry systems, setting a comfort zone included into 55 and 70. Keywords Dairy goat . Animal-based indicator . Heat stress . Cold stress . Thermal comfort . Welfare assessment Introduction Due to their supposed adaptability to different environments, goats are commonly bred in a wide range of climatic condi- tions, from sub-tropical arid and Mediterranean climates (e.g. North Africa and Southern Europe; Silanikove 2000a) to con- tinental climates (e.g. Northern Europe and North America; Eik 1991). The husbandry of indigenous goats is preferable to take advantage of their adaptation to particular environments. Nevertheless, cosmopolitan dairy goat breeds (Saanen and Alpine breeds) are widely bred in intensive dairy farms in Europe and housed in uninsulated buildings (Bøe et al. 2007), with no or limited access to outdoor pens. Breeds re- spond differently to environmental temperatures (Brown et al. 1988), and purebreds may be particularly susceptible to ther- mal stress due to their limited adaptability (Silanikove 2000b; Medeiros et al. 2007). Very high temperatures may force goats to cope with unfavourable environments and drastically mod- ify their biological functions (Lu 1989). Heat stress induces goats to adopt strategies to facilitate heat dissipation, includ- ing decrease in heart rate and increase in respiration rate (Yousef 1985) and sweating (Robertshaw and Damiel 1983), that may be followed by panting (Robertshaw and Damiel 1983; Darcan et al. 2007), sometimes with excessive saliva- tion (Darcan et al. 2007); furthermore, increased water intake (Olsson et al. 1995) and decreased feed intake (Silanikove 2000b) are frequently observed. Extreme heat stress may eventually cause death in goats (Darcan et al. 2007). Thermoregulatory strategies in cold stress situations are not well documented in this species (Bøe et al. 2007). Increased levels of thyroxin have been found in ruminants exposed to * Monica Battini monica.battini@unimi.it 1 Dipartimento di Scienze Veterinarie e Sanità Pubblica, Università degli Studi di Milano, Via G. Celoria 10, 20133 Milan, Italy Int J Biometeorol DOI 10.1007/s00484-015-1025-7